Urban Jungle
by TicTacToeUK
Summary: When things go bad for Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan they embark on a job for a seemingly harmless employer. This new adventure takes them into unknown territory... the big city !
1. Chapter 1

The last of the large gray boulders passed by Nathan Drake so he finally stopped moving. He bent over to catch his breath as he watched them disappear down the shear face of the mountain side. They all came to a stop next to the where the rest of the landside had ended up. Dust rose towards the sky. He looked around, checking on Victor Sullivan, who was already brushing the dirt off himself. Beyond his old friend he could see that a large portion of the temple they had been in had disappeared, along with the whole of the mountain side that had been in front of the ancient Mayan temple. The two men were now standing in a wide clearing surrounded on one side by the edge of the newly formed cliff and on the other sides by thick forest.

Sullivan came over to him "Well, that could have gone better - aparently some traps are worse than others, eh kid?". He started to laugh, but after looking around he immediately paused. "Where's the jeep gone Nate, and for that matter the path we were on?"

Drake pointed all the way down the mountain side. "Under about fifty tons of rubble."

"So youre saying weve lost our hire deposit ? Well it could be worse I suppose...". Sully looked around, aparently trying to decide on their next move.

Drake spoke again, softer this time. "It is worse Sully...During our escape my bag strap snapped...I lost everything".

Sullivan snapped his head around "So you lost all of our money, travel documents AND the idol all in one go ? That has to be a first !"

Drake countered, "Technically I just lost a bag during our escape from certain death... It just so happens that everything you mentioned was in there, that's all. It was actually your fault for insisting we didn't leave anything important in the jeep..."

Sully thought about this for a moment. "And I was right about that kid...considering we've lost the jeep somewhere down there too..."

After a moment the two old friends laughed loudly together, both knowing they were lucky to still be alive.

"Come on old man, if we're walking home we better get a move on - I think civilisation is this way". Drake unsheathed his machete and started towards the dense tree line.


	2. Chapter 2

The sunlight cut thin lines through the high rainforest canopy, defusing into a thousand shades of green. Drake was still leading the way - hacking through the undergrowth with his old machete; Victor Sullivan was close behind. The two of them had been making slow progress, but had been walking for over two hours; any initial optimism had long ago vanished. The men had been moving without speaking for some minutes, as if speaking was going to use up precious energy. It was Sullivan who finally broke the silence.

"Face it Nate, we are well and truly lost. Boy I could use some water right now. Do you have any left ?".

Drake shook his cantina and then his head, but smiled "Nope - I'm pretty sure there's a cooler full of water back in the jeep though...".

Drake hacked at some more branches that were in front of them, creating his own path through the foliage. He looked at Sullivan, the sweat running down his face. The sun was high and their movement through the trees was hard work. The older man didn't seem to appreciate his attempt at humour so he continued on.

"Come on Sully look on the bright side - a town can't be much further on, there are little villages all over here...and for all of that other stuff we lost? Something will turn up", Drake tried to sound positive.

Sullivan shook his head.

"This day has been a disaster...I don't even know how we are going to get back home...".

Nathan tried again "Our trips can't all be golden...get it ? Golden...cause we're treasure hunters...and we look for gold...". Sullivan still showed no reaction, so Drake's voice tailed away and he kept going without saying another word.

To try to take his mind off their predicament, Nathan Drake took the opportunity to reflect on what had happened during the day. It had started out well. They were curently about two hundred miles north of Machu Pichu. They'd been following a small trail high up into the mountains, looking for a fabled lost camp location from a little known English explorer called Sir Algenon. The camp was rumoured to be somewhere near the top of the mountain they had been travelling to. Nate cursed to himself as he thought that the day could have gone so much better had they not stumbled on to an uncharted Mayan ruin. The temptation to investigate was too much to resist. They parked the jeep next to the temple and ventured inside. They didnt expect to find anything, but after a suprisingly brief search they came across a large circular chamber - empty except for a stone pillar in the center of it. On top of the pillar perched a statue of a golden condor. The place didnt looked like it had any working traps, but looks had been deceiving. The Condor Idol had been lifted without incident, but on the way out of the temple the ground had started to shake. Whatever sequence of events had been set into motion was compounded by centuries of heavy rain that had taken its toll on the structure. Almost immediately the walls began to fall, and the floor literally crumbled beneath their feet. The two men had ran. And climbed. And jumped. During the escape Drake's bag had became trapped under a falling boulder; he had attempted to pull it out, but the strap snapped and there was no time left. He knew that sometimes it was simply better to live to fight another day, so he left the bag and its contents. They had escaped, barely, but they now found themselves without supplies and lost somewhere in the Peruvian forest.


	3. Chapter 3

On the edge of the nameless village, a sleek black 4x4 moved off the jungle trail it had been on, and turned onto the wider dirt trail that ran through the middle of it. Inside the enclosed cabin the air conditioning was working at its maximum, but the two occupants could still feel the oppressive heat on the front windshield. The 4x4 slowly moved through the village, driving slowly and carefully. The sleek black vehicle drawing enquisitive glances from a group of children playing in the street. It stopped and backed into a tight secluded spot behind a couple of run down market stalls.

"Are you sure that they will end up here? you have been wrong in the past.", the woman who was sitting in the passenger seat spoke to the driver.

The older man momentarily took his eyes off the tree line at the far end of the road that he could see through the stalls. "Yes, yes my dear. Of course I'm sure. You saw the building collapse. You saw the landslide. You saw them heading off in this direction. This is the only civilised place near by. With a bit of luck they will be here soon. Either that or they'll be dead and we will have no use for them anyway".

"Oh I do hope not..." the woman said, "it'd be such a shame for them to meet their demise... before we get what we want from them anyway..."

The old man nodded and resumed his watch.


	4. Chapter 4

Before he began his adventuring Drake had always assumed that a jungle would be quiet - he was always inwardly suprised by the noise. He had seen and especially heard a variety of shrieks and squarks, but as another group of colourful parrots passed overhead he could now faintly hear a new noise. He abruptly stopped, listening intently, not quite sure if his ears were playing tricks on him. Sully nearly walked into the back of him, still lost in his own thoughts.

"What is it Nate ?"

"Don't you hear that ?", Drake said as he moved his head around trying to get a bearing on the noise.

Sullivan shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

Nathan Drake smiled, now sure of what he could hear. He pointed over slightly to his right. "Trumpets, Sully...I can hear music; and where there is music there is civilisation...".

With renewed energy the two men set off in the direction that Drake had pointed in.

After a few moments, Victor Sullivan nodded, "You were right Nate... If I'm not mistaken that is Dizzy Gillespie...and right at this moment, that is the finest jazz I've ever heard".

The two friends could now see brief glimpses of man made structures through the still dense trees. In another minute Drake hacked through the last branch that blocked their way. They broke through the trees and stopped to get their breath as they took in the sight of what now lay before them.


End file.
